Spanking (Maybe)
by FionaRain
Summary: Written for RachelErica's ABC Turtle Tot contest on DeviantArt. (We picked a letter, she supplied us with a word started with that letter, and we wrote a story based on the word she chose.) Written in the 2012 universe. I do not own TMNT


Splinter was about to the point of pulling his whiskers out.

All of a sudden, Leonardo seemed to have decided to be the most difficult child possible, and had been non-stop mayhem the past two weeks, and was completely unsure why. Thankfully, his brothers seemed to have picked up on Splinter's stress, and rarely committed their own fouls. Donatello had been sent to the timeout corner twice, and Raphael three times. Meanwhile, Michelangelo seemed to be doing everything within his own, six-year-old power to be good. Splinter was grateful for the effort, but at the same time, he worried that he should not relax into a calm before the storm.

So far these past two weeks Leonardo: had scribbled on walls, broken dishes, left chores undone, and been disrespectful towards the dojo, by leaving it a mess. Splinter was quickly running out of punishments, Leonardo already had spent about a collective hour in timeout, was not allowed to watch television for another week, had done the dishes in his brothers' place three times, and had his Captin Ryan toy placed in the 'toy time out box' kept in Splinter's room.

Splinter despised corporal punishment. He never wanted to do it with Miwa, and he was doubly opposed to it with his adopted sons. But, he honestly couldn't think of anything else to do to get Leonardo's attention.

When Splinter was faced with a messy room, and a colored on wall in the same half hour, he decided he had to bite the bullet and discipline his son the only way he felt he had left. Now Splinter understood the term 'it hurts me more than it hurts you.'

Splinter took Leonardo into the dojo and had a talk with him. He scolded his son for the lack of stewardship for his own belongings, and for the ill-treatment of the house. As Splinter knelt and set his son over his knee, he silently prayed for some sort of intervention, divine or otherwise. Just as Splinter had raised his hand, he heard a small voice call from the tree "I thought you said we shouldn't hit."

Splinter looked up to see Michelangelo on one of the middle branches, his face inquisitive, yet, oddly serious. "This is different, my son." Splinter tried to explain.

"Why?" Michelangelo asked, tilting his head to one side, the rest of him unmoving on the branch.

Splinter was rather dumbfounded. Mikey had made it clear that he only talked when he wanted to, and Splinter had always had trouble getting more than two words out of the little turtle, let alone getting him to sit still to say them. Now the child was setting calmly and asking philosophical questions. "Because. I'm an adult." Splinter answered, trying to keep the uncertainty out of his voice.

Mikey jumped down from the tree. "What else can you do when you're an adult? Can you lie?" Mikey asked.

"No. Lying is still bad." Splinter said.

"Then you can't tell Leo he's been bad anymore." Mikey concluded.

"How do you figure?" Splinter asked, shifting to let Leo slide off his knee, and sit on the ground.

Mikey crossed his arms and said in a most exasperated tone, "Because, he didn't color on the wall, he didn't break the plate, he didn't mess up the dojo. He _did_ leave the TV on last week, but that was an accident." Mikey tilted his head in thought again, "Of course, he did let you think that he did, so I don't know if that counts as lying or not."

Splinter decided to give Michelangelo the benefit of the doubt, and trust was telling the truth. "I see. And why didn't he correct me?"

"Because he wants to be the oldest." Mikey stated. "He told us a while ago that he thought he should be the oldest, because he likes to look after us. Raph said that if he wants to look after us, he should take the blame for everything, Donnie didn't argue, and Leo figured he should do it. And now," Mikey didn't finish his last sentence, but waved his arm slightly at the scene in front of him.

Splinter pondered what to do about this situation for a moment, mulling over all that Mikey had said. Had Splinter really been punishing one son for the deeds of two others? Splinter scooped Leo up in his arms. "I'm so sorry, my son. Could you ever forgive me?" Leo just nodded into the fur on Splinter's chest and made a choked little sound of affirmation. Splinter sighed as he cuddled Leo closer. "Leonardo. Do you want to help me punish your brothers?" Splinter asked, a small mischievous smile on his face.

Leo looked up at his father in slight concern, "How?"

"Well. Your brothers still believe you are to receive a spanking. Should we see how long they can withstand their own guilt?" With that, Splinter clapped his hand together, causing a loud smacking sound to echo through the dojo. Leo grinned, catching on to his father's plan. Splinter clapped his hands again, and Leo screamed as loud as he could.

After a minute or two of the father and son's act, Raphael and Donatello came running into the dojo, begging for Splinter to stop. The came to a standstill and stared in confusion at the site before them.

"Is there something you wish to tell me, my sons?" Splinter asked sternly, folding his arms across his chest.

Raphael and Donatello confessed to letting Leo take the blame for their actions, and where both sent to the corner for ten minutes. Donatello would take Leonardo's turn for dishes for two weeks, and Raphael was on TV restriction, while Leonardo's current punishments were lifted.

Splinter rubbed his stinging palms together, silently thankful that he had not inflicted this pain on his child.


End file.
